I know, when was the last time you heard of the UK based RnB singer? Atleast the Craig that used to sing crooning RnB. Remember 7 days? His rise and fall in music has definitely been one for the books.

His seventh 15-track studio album released on January 26th 2018 tries (albeit too hard) to stay plugged in with the fresh and fun sounds that seems inherent to 2018 music. The title implies it. The cover art is brilliant with the clock with no numbers nor hands, just him reclaiming his time.I can’t say the same for the almost 2 hours of listening to this ish.

Listening to it, I had to do a double take and confirm that I was not listening to Drake. The similarity in sounds is uncanny, even up to the drawls. Cop a listen to Going On and it will all make sense.

David seems intent on covering all dance bases, from EDM to house and afrobeat to reggaeton, hip hop and old school 2-step garage(garbage!). It is bright and busy, peppered with guest appearances from Bastille, JP Cooper, GoldLink and Ella Mai. But the risk is that this extremely versatile star winds up sounding like a guest at his own party.

There are way too many gimmicks employed in the album with a lot of superficial fillers. Cue in For The Gram that tries to deliver some humor(cheesy and/or corny) in the lyrical content. Heartline and Brand New have incredibly catchy beats that I can guarantee will stay at the top of the charts and be played after every 5 minutes on every radio station, the world over, for what will feel like forever.

It seems the now pop star might never live up to his once classic songs’ stature, staples that have been the gems of the core of RnB genre. The time is no longer now for Craig David. Sigh…